Anthony Braxton has experimented over the years with many areas of
creative music, including those built around his complex compositions
as well as those associated with the song form and other traditional
modes of jazz expression. Through it all, he has never lost his love
for the unstructured and unbridled improvisational side of the music.
On this collaboration with fellow reed player Scott Rosenberg, three
facets of Braxton are on displayone where he interprets another
composer's work, one where he explores his own compositions, and one
using instantly composed and fully improvised material. During all
three, Braxton is a plethora of strength and a wellspring of originality.

He is in excellent company with Rosenberg both compositionally and
interpretatively. The selections by Rosenberg present a challenge
through their dense structure and broken, jagged linear approach.
His writing concentrates in staccato fashion on pitting the parallel
accentuation of the reeds against each other. Rosenberg is a kindred
spirit, being fully in tune aesthetically with the elder artist. He
often plays a reed that contrasts with the one Braxton is using, presenting
tonal variations that can span the sonic register. Rosenberg's tone
is full-bodied, and his writing style is conceptively akin to Braxton's.
When Rosenberg breaks free of the charts, as both players do emphatically
on the lengthy "Eerhre", there is spontaneous magic in the air.

Two other pieces are from the vast notebook of Braxton. These works
are intricate webs of changing tempo and direction that allow for
extensive self-expression. On "#65", Rosenberg tunnels deeply into
the core of the earth on contrabass clarinet while Braxton rises to
the stratosphere on soprano. They meet at the high end as Rosenberg
instrumentally moves up the scale to his sopranino, followed by both
multi-reed players branching off on numerous horns from their arsenal.
Then there are the three fully improvised cuts where the players at
first tentatively feel out each other and then become more comfortable
at taking risks and flying on high. The second and third of these
are filled with a real sense of telepathic communication.

Braxton and Rosenberg show great compatibility of style on this recording.
The music is daring, at times quite challenging, and it is always
filled with abstract inventiveness. The horns juxtapose and then rearrange
in divergent directions, yet the musicians remain spiritually in tune
with each other's muse. It results in a synergistic effort forged
on mutually controlled territory. This is certain to please the adventurous
listener.